FlourishFiles

The Story of Rice - Easter Show Style

 

When I joined the Ricegrowers' Association of Australia (RGA) in 2005, the decision had already been taken to stop attending the Sydney Royal Easter Show. This was a budget decision mostly, as the drought was starting to bite and priorities (and funds) were reallocated to maintaining the industry's base. It was probably wise timing, as the drought continued (got worse in fact!) and water allocations fell to 0% resulting in historically low plantings. 

A decade later and I'm pleased to see the seasons have returned and the rice industry is back at the Easter Show!

I took my four-year old Food Farm veteran along to road test the exhibit.

A largely misunderstood crop in Australia, rice is a fascinating industry - with unique agronomic characteristics and a variety of end uses. It's also great example of a grower-owned, high value, branded, vertically integrated industry.

Not only do Australian growers own the popular and familiar brand SunRice, but as you discover in this exhibit, Australian rice pops up in unlikely places! 

 

Growing Rice in Australia

Contrary to popular belief, rice is actually a perfect fit for the Australian environment!

Australians don't grow tropical varieties, rather we specialise in medium grain, temperate varieties. 

Medium grain rice is not suited to tropical climates, but the Riverina’s dry hot summers and heavy soils provide ideal growing conditions.

Australia's competitors in the medium grain market include California and Egypt. 

See, rice is not just an Asian crop!
 

A close up of the mighty grain growing at the Easter Show!

 

A healthy environment is a focus for Australian rice growers who take pride in their contribution to biodiversity outcomes. You can read more here.

 

Milling

One of the most popular misconceptions about white rice is that it is bleached brown rice, when in fact it is all natural. The outer layer of bran is merely polished off leaving the perfect white grain ready for consumption.

And the really exciting thing is, no part of the grain is wasted! There is a use for the bran and any broken grains.

Products made from Rice

We're all familiar with the SunRice pillow packs in our supermarkets, but Australian rice is used in a range of products, including snack foods, cereals, beverages and pet products - many of which are probably in your pantry right now!
 

 

 

And this is what it's all about folks, engaging with consumers. Telling the story of rice, one conversation at a time.

 

You can learn more about the Australian rice industry at the RGA website.

 

Imagine this...

 

You’ve been feeling crook for two days…. At least, you think it’s been two days.The waves of nausea, smacking headaches and crazy hallucinations followed by long periods of semi-consciousness mean it could have been longer.

You’re not feeling any better, in fact if anything, you’re feeling worse. Maybe, you’re thinking, this isn’t the “24 hour bug” after all….?

 
It’s Friday.

 
You can’t take much more of this, so you struggle to the phone and ring your GP to beg for an appointment before the weekend.

What would you like to hear?
 

Sure, I’ll stay late today! No patients = no money! And I’m in this game to make a profit like everyone else. 

or

Sure, I’ll stay late today! You sound terrible and my mission is to heal people. I care about you.

 

Almost 2 years after the live export ban debacle and with all the work around “values-based engagement” since I’m surprised farmers are still saying to me: 

“Of course I look after my livestock/environment! I wouldn’t make any money if I didn’t! I’m here to make money, just like everybody else.”

There is a base understanding in society that everyone needs to earn an income in order to support themselves, or their families.  I think we accept that as a given – it doesn’t need to be spoken. It certainly doesn’t need to be spoken first!

At a base level, you know the doctor has to see patients in order to make money. In this example, you’ll probably even accept that you have to pay extra to see the GP after hours.

And because you are so sick, you may even feel relieved to get the first response!

But what perceptions are you left with about the doctor’s motivations? What will you tell your friends and neighbours about their attitude, when you’re well again?

It’s the same with agriculture. Everyone knows you’re in business to earn an income to support yourselves, or your family.

What people want to know is your mission. And that you care.

 

Government Use of Twitter for Engagement

 

The highlight of my week (so far!) has been attending a presentation by REAL Twitter employees – complete with American accents – here in Canberra.

It was part of a series of Gov 2.0 events facilitated by Pia Waugh (@PiaWaugh) from AGIMO and held at the swanky new DEEWR offices in the city.

Adam Sharp (@adams), Head of News and Government and Mike Brown (@mikeisbrown), Director of Market Development are in Australia as part of Twitter’s move to establish a presence here. Seems they have been holding meetings and briefings with Australian government officials and news outlets.

 

Adam Sharp, Pia Waugh and Mike Brown in conversation at the Gov 2.0 event this week.

 

By their own admission, the presentation was a farily basic overview Twitter, its power to engage and keys to success, particularly in the government space.

Never mind, there was some interesting information about how government, in the US, is using Twitter to engage with constituencies. 

In the US, 100% of Senators, 94% of Members of the House of Representatives and all but one, State Governor are on Twitter.

Why are they there?

Well, Adam tells us that Twitter users are opinion leaders and more likely to be involved in current affairs.  On election day in 2008 (US), there were 1.8 million tweets posted. Today, there are 1.8 million tweets posted every 6 minutes. A large, influential and growing audience for public officials.

But he also promotes Twitter as having evolved into a great tool for government, for these reasons:

 

“Scalable, Retail Governing”

We all know face-to-face interaction is the most powerful method for engaging with each other. But that’s impossible for government institutions (and representatives). So over time governments have turned to a range of methods to broadcast messages to stakeholders and communities. Often with only limited success.

Twitter now allows government to return to one-on-one engagement with stakeholders resulting in increasing faith in government while demystifying institutions and those who serve in them.

Check out how President Obama used Twitter to chat to constituents during his #My2K campaign last year.

 

“Town Square in your Pocket”

Remember when we all had time to hang around in our town squares and catch up on the latest news? Well, no, not really. But that doesn’t matter because Twitter now enables all of us to be part of the conversation any time, anywhere.

Two-way engagement, without having to hang out in public? Yes please!

 

“Real Time Measurement of Citizen Response”

Keeping in mind Twitter users are probably not fully representative of most constituencies, it does provide a handy tool to track real-time responses to issues of the day.

Remember, when people are watching TV, they’re usually holding a device. So instant commentary on a politician’s interview or policy announcement (or even a government advertisement) can be monitored, in real time.

Adam Sharp cited two great examples of Twitter being used by US government agencies to monitor issues in real-time.

Firstly, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention finds tweets are effective for monitoring ‘flu outbreaks because they’re in real time, unlike hospital admissions data. 

And the US Geological Survey is developing a Twitter Earthquake Detector because tweets noting “shaking” were sometimes appearing 30 seconds before the quake registered on their seismometers. 

 

In many ways, the presentation was a sales pitch – unnecessary for me, as I love Twitter. Next time, I’d love them to explore in-depth case studies of how Twitter can be a game changer in the public conversation.

In the meantime, it will be interesting to see how our government agencies respond. If they can get it right, magic can happen!

 

 

About the speakers

Adam Sharp is Head of News and Government for Twitter based in Washington DC. Adam works closely with News organizations to help them use Twitter to achieve their goals of improved news reporting and superior content syndication. Adam also leads Twitter's team dedicated to empowering government agencies and individual members of government. Government agencies and individual representatives (and their staff) employ Twitter to educate and inform citizens, provide superior government responsiveness and collect actionable feedback on public opinion and sentiment.

Mike Brown is Director of Market Development at Twitter. Mike's responsibility is to grow Twitter's user base in priority markets outside the United States. Recently, Mike has been leading Twitter's efforts to establish an Australian presence by hiring a local team and working closely with some of the leading organizations in Australia.